Wireless communications devices (e.g. cell phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants, wireless-enabled tablets, or other types of mobile communication devices) are becoming ubiquitous. These wireless communications devices enable users to communicate (e.g. by voice, e-mail, text messages), to browse the Web, to calendar events, to store an address book of contacts, and to perform myriad other tasks.
Wireless communications devices can also be used to store personal information about the owner of the device, such as the name and alternate phone number of the owner in case the device is lost. In other instances, wireless communications devices have been used to store emergency information, sometimes referred to as In Case of Emergency (“ICE”) information. For example, a device may store be used to identify a contact in the user's address book as an emergency contact person. One approach for doing so is to identify the contact with the acronym “ICE” prior the entry. So, for example, a contact John Smith would be listed as ICE—Smith, John in the address book to signify that John Smith is an emergency contact person for the owner of the device. The main problem with this approach is that it is not universally accepted and many first responders would not necessarily know what “ICE” or any other such designation means. A greater problem, however, is that the address book is typically only accessible by a user who has the password to the device. Thus, without knowledge of the password, the first responder cannot gain access to the emergency information stored within the device. Furthermore, since the way to access an address book varies from device to device, it may not be immediately apparent to the first responder how to quickly check the address book for emergency contacts.
One solution to this problem is provided by Warden Security. A login screen with a password prompt briefly presents a small amount of emergency information such as the name of a contact person to be called in case of emergency, the relationship of the contact person to the owner of the device, and some rudimentary health-related information (such as the owner's blood type). However, since only a very limited amount of emergency information is made available to the first responder, the usefulness of this prior-art technology is minimal.
A further problem is that the emergency contact, even if responsive to the emergency call from the first responder, may not be immediately familiar with the location where the accident has occurred or where the device owner is lying in distress. Furthermore, the contact person may not know the location of the medical service provider or hospital where the device owner is being brought for medical care. A related problem is that the first responder may not know which of the emergency contacts is closest to the scene or which hospital, clinic or other medical service provider is closest. In view of the many shortcomings of the prior art, improvements would be highly desirable.
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.